Unfortunate circumstances… Friday, Jan 23 2009

I am writing here only to make the truth known to my students who might visit my blog and read this.  Today was my last day at Loyola.  This makes me very, very sad as the circumstances truly were unfortunate.  I was asked to do things that were very unrealistic for my position and educational background, therefore they chose to lay me off and pursue other avenues of expanding the program (i.e. distance education.)  I am not sure who will be there to provide guidance to Freshmen students in the College of Business. 

If there is anything I find I am truly passionate about, it’s student services and college counseling.  The opportunity to work with bright, energetic students who are searching for their life’s purpose is what I consider my purpose.  It’s something I enjoy so much. I happily go the extra mile for my students because I know that in their shoes, I would want someone to be there for me to tell me the things I’ll need to know to graduate.  I was lucky, I had several people like that at LSU- a much MUCH larger school, with professional staff members who still made an effort to know my name.  I do make the effort to know my student’s names.  

 

 

All grievances on the matter of my dismissal should be directed to Bill Locander, locander@loyno.edu and David Luechauer drdave@loyno.edu.  If you choose to write to them to express your opinion on the matter, I want you to know I sincerely appreciate it.  

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Surprises! Thursday, Dec 11 2008

I have been invited to spend New Year’s and my birthday in Rio De Janeiro.  I’m going with one of my very best friends in the world, Nick, who evacuated with my family during Hurricane Katrina.  We always have a great time together, so I’m sure it will be the best vacation.  I’m marking all the sites and restaurants I’d like to check out on the Lonely Planet site.  

It snowed in New Orleans this morning!  I got into work early because I had a presentation today, but moments after I arrived it started snowing.  I went outside with a few folks who were already in the office as well and played a bit before going back to working on my proposal… which I still have a lot to do on.  Even though it’s an opportunity for me to gain experience in program development, I still have a lot to learn.  I don’t have any training in program development, even though it is something I want to do.  I will keep on working though, and refine the proposal until it’s perfect.  I expect better of myself, and I will produce.  I’ll make it the best it can be before I leave for Christmas vacation.

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Business… Saturday, Nov 8 2008

I’ve been trying to attend to business, keep clear of mind and work on myself, my career, and reflect quite a bit lately.  I must admit being home has been thrilling, invigorating and refreshing.  Last weekend, I went to the Krewe of Boo Parade to see my sisters ride in it.  I walked alone on the Moonwalk and reflected on life.  We must always strive to be happy and right now my happiness has come from personal reflection. 

Work keeps me busy, and I need to do so much in preparation for next semester.  I joined the Young Leadership Council and I’m going to start doing some volunteer work.  I’m still in this period of readjustment being home.  I am not quite comfortable yet here.  I want a place to call home here because being at the parents house is draining me. I am very glad gas prices have gone down though- now I can save some money possibly to someday by a house?  I am hopeful.   

Today was the National Wolves on the Prowl event.  It was fantastic.  The students had the opportunity to volunteer at five different events around campus and the city.  I would love to bridge this with the Young Leadership Council and do something like this regularly for our students as an integral part of our program.  

Dinner at the Palace Cafe last night was nice, but I was completely unimpressed.  I tried to go safe with the rotisserie chicken, the dirty rice tasted a lot like MamPapaul’s and the satsuma vinegarette.  I think there was a piece of liver though and that’s where I really went wrong.  It made me feel ill. It also could have been the tuna tartare appetizer… I just don’t trust Palace Cafe with seafood from the last time, but even the chicken did me wrong. 

Today, Daniel and I are going to see the Vienna Boys Choir.  Mom and Dad and Mrs. Mary Ann and Mr. Harry are going too… lucky them, they are going to Commander’s Palace. I am officially jealous, because I’ll take Commander’s over any other place in this city anyday, even Muriel’s.  Though, Muriel’s I just love for the ambience.  The intriguing seance room and parlor upstairs is fantastic.  I could sit in there for hours.

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Jumbled… Wednesday, Oct 15 2008

I have to admit, my brain has been pretty jumbled lately.  The result has been too much of nothing, and not enough of what needs to get done.  Today, I have to change that.  First and foremost, I need to make a few phone calls and find a doctor here.  That’s today’s initiative for my personal responsibilities, work responsibilities are another story.  I need to develop my list of objectives to be assessed.  I pride myself on being accessible to my students, even somuch as to take away from my personal time to answer emails.  I think one of my metrics needs to be “takes appropriate time away from work as to not be obsessed with job.”

I need to ask better questions.

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God told me… Tuesday, Oct 14 2008

Why is not the question you should ask of me.  It is that you must answer how and what you are going to do about the problems you create for your self. 

The answer is simplier than the question.  I know what I have to do.  Now, I just need to do it.

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Sometimes… Tuesday, Oct 14 2008

I have a hard time asking people for what I need. 

I am frustrated with myself for so many things. 

And I ask God, “Why?”

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Things I wish all my students would do… Friday, Oct 10 2008

 

 

 

• Take the time to map out the classes you’ll need to take for the next four years in order to graduate in your chosen major.
• Find clubs and activities that interest you.  Leadership roles taken in your college career will make your resume stand out.
• Build relationships with your professors, administrators, and advisors.  We will be happy to write you recommendation letters if you’ve made yourself known to us for the last four years, not the last four months of your last semester. 

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educational resources Monday, Oct 6 2008

Yesterday, I was impressed by my finding of the Carnegie Foundations’s Teaching and Learning Commonswebsite.  I quickly registered and began to explore the many scholars sites within the site on educational technology.  I’m impressed, but it certainly could use further development.  The content layout system seems tedious, and when I tried to create my own pages to begin to stitch together it opened way too many windows. 

In the realm of education websites directed to students, I located Simply Spark’s list which impressed me all around.  Some of the sites I was formally familiar with from personal experience, but many of these educational resources were new to me.  Most impressively, I think EduBlogs might be a better alternative to our currently used system with Blogger.  I spend a lot of time explaining to students that they do not need to create an entirely new blog each time they post a blog assignment.  Moments ago, I worked with a student who had locked herself out of her blog account because she couldn’t remember which email address she’d used to set the account up.  Sound familiar? 

It’s a common problem these days when you have accounts all over on multiple sites and you can’t locate which email address you used to sign up for that account.  The ability to remember all your logins seems like a simple skill but so many accounts so little brain space… Blackberry has a password keeper program in it, but not everyone has a blackberry or iphone.  Though, said student’s Blackberry would not turn on, and such information will certainly be lost in the internal memory of the phone thus deeming the feature useless. There must be an easier way to keep track of your digital life.

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time to get serious…. Monday, Oct 6 2008

I decided this was the week I would get back into the habit of working out 6 days a week.  I started today with Pilates after work and then a hardcore elliptical cross country course.  Inspiration sparked inside me to go the distance and jog up the parking garage to the 5th floor afterwards… all I could think was that 6 months ago, this would have been a piece of cake to me.  Not a actual piece of cake, Lord knows I’d prefer to eat cake than work out– but then I’d remain at this same weight and that’s not the objective.  

I have approximately 6 months until the Crescent City Classic, and this year marks my seventh year in the race.  I’ve yet to break the hour and a half mark, but I plan to in 2009.  My best time has been one hour and 45 minutes.  I think I can shave 15 minutes from my time in 6 months.  At least, I will try.  

I’ll be posting my workout summaries via text on twitter, if anyone is interested.

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these amazing students… Friday, Oct 3 2008

As I’ve graded the blogs of my advisees. I find they have great vision and value honesty, integrity, ethical behavior, and innovation, while keeping perspective that their vision will evolve more as they grown and learn through college.  They are thoughtful and inspiring, just as expected. Reading 150 blogs and responding has taken some time, but it’s well worth it when I get to see all the aspirations of my students written in their own words. 

It’s been a quiet Thursday and Friday around here.  I think many folks are away at conferences, and lots of professors have left by this time on a Friday.  I plan to stay until 6 as I need to finish up a handful of blogs and send those grades off to their professors. It looks like I’ll be going off to visit Xavier University in Cincinnati later this month, which will be very cool.  I’ll get to see the model program we are working to base our full fledged Passport system on by next Fall.  Very cool, I’ve never been to Cincinnati, though I was once offered a job there, I just couldn’t see myself living anywhere but New Orleans. 

Tonight, no plans.  At least, none yet.  Maybe that’ll change, or maybe I’ll just retreat to mi casa with the dogs and watch a movie.  Might even pick up a steak… and make myself a cocktail.  Who knows?  It’s been a good week though.  I attribute that to it having been an excellent weekend.  More of the same, please.

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